Motivation for the weak willed snacker...

[Blue Hills]

Snacks: prepared processed foods are (probably) deliberately formulated to keep you wanting more.

More than probably. The processed food industy sees us as lab rat consumers.

 

[Ridgeway]

These are the things that have worked for me this year. I'm down to 63kg and I haven't drastically altered anything in my life but lockdown has allowed me to reset a few areas. I'd describe my will power as non existent, so for me its been a big struggle to make small changes.

Go cold turkey on sugar and crisps for 1-2 weeks. It's only when you have something sweet again do you realise how quickly the cravings start. It was a real eye opened for me.

Don't feel guilty for having a treat. The more you avoid it, the more you feel guilty for having succumbed to temptation.

Look at how much small changes can add up. It might only be 1 small chocolate biscuit bar a day but drop to every other day and that is around 1lb loss (or not gaining) every two months

Ask your partner to buy the stuff only he/she likes and keep that where they usually live. Then set yourself a snack tin somewhere for the stuff you like. It might just be me, but if I know I have x amount stashed away then I am not thinking about sharing something. It's also there when I want it, with no disappointment of the last one having been snaffled. If I look in the cupboard, there is nothing I like and that is a reminder why my stash is hidden away.

Change your wardrobe as your weight goes down. No point in staying in the same clothes as you have enough room to comfortably grow back into them.

Some great tips

 

[Ridgeway]

Mrs Ridgeway came up with a sensible idea this morning, going to get a food dehydrator so that we can prepare dried fruits and veggies. The children love dried fruit but it's quite expensive so hopefully this will help save a few pennies and motivate us to switch from junk snacks to something slightly healthier.

It arrives tomorrow so off to get some fruit and i'll be ready for some serious drying

 

[Archie_tect]

Only issue to watch with dried fruit is it concentrates the sugar content so, as it weighs much less and is a much smaller amount to look at, you tend to eat more of it... a double whammy!

 

[Ridgeway]

Good point but it has to be better than Wotsits and Penguins i guess, but i take what you're saying.

 

[ColinJ]

Why not just eat an apple, pear, carrot, [insert fruit/vegetable of choice here]...?

 

[Ridgeway]

My thinking is that sliced up into smaller pieces and dried it will help me replace small snacky foods, ie eat a piece or two of a dried fruit instead of a whole one or better still instead of a bag/packet of XXX. I think it brings convenience rather than having to keep carving up fruit throughout the day and also having them start to go brown etc

 

[ColinJ]

You could buy small apples and eat one at a time? They travel well.

I gave up carrying bananas when out because they always seem to end up a mess - yes, I know that there are special plastic banana holders, but I haven't got one!

The trouble with dried fruit (as mentioned above) is that it is very concentrated, and also more-ish. I loved nuts and raisins but couldn't stop eating them.

 

[Drago]

Keep all the snacks in the same cupboard. Inside the door of that same cupboard attach a large picture of Bernard Manning. Now every time you open the cupboard you'll see what you'll end up looking like if you keep snacking.

Motivation levels high, snack intake reduced, job done.

Im lucky, blessed with a cast iron willpower that makes even Schwarzenegger look weak willed.

 

[Ridgeway]

Drago this does mean that i'll have to explain to the children who Mr Manning was, suppose it had to come one day

"Right kids there was this Embassy club in Manchester....."

 

[Drago]

This should do it...

"Blimey, I really fancy a snack size Twix bar..."

 

[Ridgeway]

Look at the size of his phone